__________________
Carnival-1979
NCL-1981
Carnival-1982
Admiral-1988
Monarch of the Seas-1993
Song of America-1994
Majesty of the Seas-1995
Splendour of the Seas-1996
CCL Destiny-1997
Empress of the Seas-1998
Rhapsody of the Seas-1998
Legend of the Seas-1999
Monarch of the Seas-2000
Windstar-2002
Grandeur of the Seas-2006
CCL Ecstasy-2006
Enchantment of the Seas-2006
Adventure of the Seas-2007
Enchantment of the Seas-2007
Grandeur of the Seas-2009
Radiance of the Seas-2009
Celebrity Century-2010

Going to do a little each day, and it may turn out to be review eventually....

Finally our cruise was here!

We left Detroit on February 14. We had originally planned to stay at a Best Western in North Bay Village, but Scott found out that a friend was getting married on South Beach Sunday about the same time as we were landing, and they invited us to join them for the reception. So on Saturday, I went to Priceline for a room in South Beach, got a 4 star hotel for $185 + tax. About the same we were going to pay anyway, but better location. The hotel turned out to be The Shore Club on Collins Ave, it had very mixed reviews on the sites I checked, which concerned me, and I sent a quick e-mail to the internet relations manager who was responding to reviewers on Trip Advisor. We liked the look of the hotel when we arrived, and there was a note from that manager when we arrived, they upgraded us to an oceanview room. The hotel had a very South Beach feel, very minimalist dťcor, and a lot of white on white. Scottís friends were calling us, so we went to the room freshened up and finally we found out the reception was going to be at The Delano only two blocks away! I love The Delano; it is very expensive, but so romantic! We ended up with a very South Beach experience! I didnít think Scott would like that sort of thing, he had stated he wasnít really interested in seeing South Beach, but we had a great time. Dinner was only 20 people, and very fancy. We got up the next morning and had breakfast at the News Cafť on Ocean Drive watching all the expensive cars and people go by! Back to the hotel with a little stop for some wine to bring on board, a 12- pack of water, and a 6 pack of Pepsi. Okay, I also bought a pint of rum to sneak on board. Packed everything up in our bags and off to the cruise ship, first time on Celebrity, 5 days on Century!

We were off to the port, I love the drive seeing the ships come into view, and Century looked wonderful, very different from the Royal Caribbean ship I am used to. The porters were very efficient, helped with our bags, and liked the homemade tags I had made; yes I didnít get any luggage tags again! Off to ships terminal, a real maze of lines in front of us, but we preceded to the Captainís Club Elite line, and they one couple in front of us! So we had to wait a whole three minutes to be waited on, just kidding! We checked in very simply, and another maze and Voila! There was the ship again, they checked us on, gave us a glass of Champagne and a glass of orange juice for him! Very nice, white gloves and all! The ships foyer was much smaller than the last ship I was on the Radiance of the Seas, but very classy, reminded me of ďold time cruising.Ē We took an elevator to the Penthouse deck, to cabin 1129, our Concierge Class cabin. Small cabin, lovely large bed, Champagne on ice, flowers on the table by the balcony. There was lots of literature lying on the bed, invitations for Captains Club events, and two different Celebrity tote bags to use. A larger balcony with two chairs and a full size table to eat on, not much a view yet, but that was to come soon. We went up one deck to the Island Cafť for some lunch instead, we found lots of things we liked, I especially like the Passion Guava juice I was to have with every meal in the Island Cafť. We ate outside, it was just warm enough, but many had jackets on, we didnít see the need. Now for the tour, we went to check our dining room reservation, got kind of confused walking around, it is one of those dining rooms mid ship which prevents you from walking through the ship, sometimes you canít there from here kind of thing. We found a nice young lady who helping some others with questions about dining reservations and found we were given a table for two. We had requested a large table, and off to find the Maitre D to change things. He happily put us at a table for eight, late seating table 563. We looked around at the Celebrity Theater, the Michaelís Club, the Martini Bar and the Casino. Back to our room to unpack, one of my bags was there, but guess which one was missing? Yup, the pint of rum! We got a call to retrieve our bag, down to the naughty room I went. Deck 3 all the way forward, my bag was front and center! A very nice young man asked me to pick out my bag, he put it on a table for me, asked if I had any wine or champagne in my bag, I truthfully answered no. He asked if I had any other liquids in there? I pulled out my airline travel mini bottles, now only half filled with rum; I asked if that was okay? He said sure, but did I have any wine or champagne? I said I brought that on my carryon, and he zipped my bag shut! Oh my, I got away with a whole pint of rum! Is all that worth it? No, probably not, but I wasnít going to pay $80 for a bar set-up in my cabin with a Fifth I didnít need, with Coke I donít like! The small victories are sweetest. I didnít even finish the pint, refilled my airline bottles and they came home with me. Back to the cabin to finish unpacking, but first we had the muster drill. Again, no life jackets in the Rendezvous Lounge, out to the muster station, no problems, very easy. We went back to the cabin to unpack, onto our balcony for the sail away; Miami is so pretty for the sail away. We freshened up and went to the casino for the Texas Hold Em Tournament, neither one of us won. We went to the show before dinner, it was good up until the comedian, so we left the show early off to meet our new table mates! We got to our table and met Don and Maya from Toronto, and Joel and Charlotte from North Carolina. Two empty chairs, but that would soon change. We all introduced ourselves, very happy with such nice table mates, met our waiter Victor and Jackson the assistant waiter. All off a sudden there was a ruckus coming our way, a group of complaining people followed by waiters and head waiter; they were to be at our table, all 4 complainers. They didnít want to be, they made that very clear. Turns out Joel and Charlotte were supposed to be at table 663 one floor up. We tried to lighten the mood, but the Complaining family just had more bad things to say. The head maitre D came over to apologize and they demanded a table for 4, and he said they would have one tomorrow night. What? Give them what they want, please. Joel and Charlotte left very quickly, we absolutely wanted to follow. The Complainers were gone the next night leaving just the four of us, and we ran into Joel and Charlotte in the Martini Bar the next night, invited them back to our table, and they brought another couple from Texas, and the eight of us had a wonderful rest of the cruise dinners. We went back to the Fortunes Casino, I won a little at Roulette, and he lost a little playing slots. Good first night, time to rest up for Key West on Tuesday.

Try a little more soon,

__________________
Carnival-1979
NCL-1981
Carnival-1982
Admiral-1988
Monarch of the Seas-1993
Song of America-1994
Majesty of the Seas-1995
Splendour of the Seas-1996
CCL Destiny-1997
Empress of the Seas-1998
Rhapsody of the Seas-1998
Legend of the Seas-1999
Monarch of the Seas-2000
Windstar-2002
Grandeur of the Seas-2006
CCL Ecstasy-2006
Enchantment of the Seas-2006
Adventure of the Seas-2007
Enchantment of the Seas-2007
Grandeur of the Seas-2009
Radiance of the Seas-2009
Celebrity Century-2010

QOC, thanks for the update. I don't know what our MDR experience will be like because we have select dinning. I am determined to make diamond/elite so I booked a RCL 3 day cruise in a junior suite for October. This will get use 2 credits closer, I will then only need 2 credits more to make it.

__________________
Carnival-1979
NCL-1981
Carnival-1982
Admiral-1988
Monarch of the Seas-1993
Song of America-1994
Majesty of the Seas-1995
Splendour of the Seas-1996
CCL Destiny-1997
Empress of the Seas-1998
Rhapsody of the Seas-1998
Legend of the Seas-1999
Monarch of the Seas-2000
Windstar-2002
Grandeur of the Seas-2006
CCL Ecstasy-2006
Enchantment of the Seas-2006
Adventure of the Seas-2007
Enchantment of the Seas-2007
Grandeur of the Seas-2009
Radiance of the Seas-2009
Celebrity Century-2010

Got to sleep in on Tuesday, up to the Island Cafť for breakfast, where Scott seems to know everyone. Greeting the servers by name, they are as charmed by him as I am. The poached egg station is wonderful, but I canít be doing this the whole cruise! My brother lives in Key West, but he is a night owl, who works at a bar, and we made plans to meet for lunch at 11:30. It was cool in Key West, probably 68 with a breeze. We were comfortable in short sleeves, but anyone from Florida or Key West, (separate places) were in long sleeves. We went to El Siboney, a wonderful Cuban restaurant favored by the locals, any taxi driver will take you there, they eat there! After lunch my brother went home to get the dogs, and met us at a local bar called Danís Place, catchy, huh? The little dog named Jib started crying as soon as we got to the bar, turns out he wanted to jump up on my brotherís lap, put his front paws on the bar and was crying for beer! Too funny!! Yes, the bartender got Brother a beer and poured a shot of beer for Jib. If you havenít been to Key West, it may surprise to hear about dogs at the bar, but it is very common there! I am sure many would worry about cleanliness, but Key West is just different that way. My Brother lives just around the corner, and everyone who came in greeted him by name; we watched the Olympics and cheered for USA! We went back to his house for a little while longer, and too soon it was time to go. We called a taxi, because I wanted to go to my favorite store on the island called Local Color. It was to be my Nieceís birthday the day we got back, so I picked up a pair of earrings for her, and a pair for me. Their jewelry there is very different, and I have been shopping there for 12 years. I have a collection of Coral and Lorimar stones, earrings, rings and pendants. It is located in the Old Key West area right by Half-Shell Oyster Bar, there is also a small location across from Captains Tonyís on Greene St, just off Duval St. We made our way back to the ship, with a stop at Key Lime Pie Shoppe for the best Key Lime Pie on the planet, but that is only my humble opinion. Back onto the ship in plenty of time, and time for a nap for Scott, reading a book on the balcony for me. Did I mention I love cruising? We went up to the Sushi Bar (which is also the poached egg station in the morning) for a snack to hold us over for late dining, it was wonderful! We went to the Martini Bar and I had a tasting flight of Martiniís! Six different martinis for $18.50, very good. Then we tried the show, a different comedian, who also juggled and rode an unicycle. He called 4 guys up to the stage, including Scott who introduced himself as Scooter, the name most people know him as. Once the comedian had Scooter, he let the other three go and I almost wet myself laughing so hard. Scooter was a STAR! For the rest of the cruise, people greeted Scooter by name. We had another awesome dinner with Mya and Don, and a little casino action. I won a little more at roulette, and Scooter lost a little more in the slots. Next day was a sea day, and it was getting warmer! I had a cocktail on the balcony, and we went to bed.

__________________
Carnival-1979
NCL-1981
Carnival-1982
Admiral-1988
Monarch of the Seas-1993
Song of America-1994
Majesty of the Seas-1995
Splendour of the Seas-1996
CCL Destiny-1997
Empress of the Seas-1998
Rhapsody of the Seas-1998
Legend of the Seas-1999
Monarch of the Seas-2000
Windstar-2002
Grandeur of the Seas-2006
CCL Ecstasy-2006
Enchantment of the Seas-2006
Adventure of the Seas-2007
Enchantment of the Seas-2007
Grandeur of the Seas-2009
Radiance of the Seas-2009
Celebrity Century-2010

Welcome back hannibal, so glad you enjoyed Century too. Please tell me more when you have time.

__________________
Carnival-1979
NCL-1981
Carnival-1982
Admiral-1988
Monarch of the Seas-1993
Song of America-1994
Majesty of the Seas-1995
Splendour of the Seas-1996
CCL Destiny-1997
Empress of the Seas-1998
Rhapsody of the Seas-1998
Legend of the Seas-1999
Monarch of the Seas-2000
Windstar-2002
Grandeur of the Seas-2006
CCL Ecstasy-2006
Enchantment of the Seas-2006
Adventure of the Seas-2007
Enchantment of the Seas-2007
Grandeur of the Seas-2009
Radiance of the Seas-2009
Celebrity Century-2010